I decorated a couple of gift bags for the challenge, for a couple of little people that I needed to buy gifts for.

This first one is for my next door neighbour's Grandaughter, she is such a little chatterbox, whenever we are outside gardening she does love to come and chat to us, and she loves to come along on dog walks too.

I thought this large pre- coloured die cut from the Hobby House was perfect for the bag, I mounted it onto some patterned paper and cut around it with some scalloped scissors.

The double bow is made from red silky crush ribbon which just ties the most beautiful bows, I think it is my most favourite ribbon.

The second bag is for a dear friend's son - it will be his first Christmas (such a special time!) and I have bought him a gorgeous little outfit to pop inside this bag.

This is another die cut pre coloured image from the Hobby house - great for quick makes. I layered up some Christmas papers and stitched them together and then decorated with someChristmas mix twineand some little jingle bells.

The felt snowflakes were recycled from some packaging. No bows for a little boy but I couldn't resist putting ribbon onto the gift bag somewhere so I added a strip of stitched grosgrain in cream and red.

Do pop over to the blog and have a look at my team mates wonderful cards and try and join us in the challenge we love to visit you all and see what you have made.

Thursday, 22 November 2012

Today I have a wedding card to share with you, I am trying to get my Christmas cards made but I also have a lot of Birthdays in November and December and also a Wedding just before Christmas. So this week I am trying to get all of those ticked off my 'to do' list.

I decided on simplicity for this card, and chose a white on white design with this gorgeous embellishment. I haven't even used my sewing machine on this card as I decided less is more. I love this vintage wallpaper stamp for wedding cards, I used a white pearl embossing powder (unfortunately you can't see how pretty this is in the photo)

The Bride and Groom stamp is from Big Day Additions from Waltzingmouse stamps - this is a wonderful little set I have used it so often, it is great value for money too. I embossed it with WOW fine detail silver embossing powder, I always use fine detail powder for sentiments.

I gathered a piece of white silky crush ribbon and then added this beautiful bow embellishment, I think it adds a special touch to a wedding card. I decided against glueing this embellishment onto the ribbon, instead I used some fine silver thread to stitch it on with.

Wednesday, 7 November 2012

Now don't faint I know blogging twice in one week is unheard of here!!

I need to get on with making my Christmas cards so what better way than to use a good sketch to get the inspiration going. It's a while since I participated in the Waltzingmouse Sketch challenge but this week's sketch is such a lovely one it would have been rude not to play along.

I did turn the sketch on it's side for my card but I think that's allowed (hope so!)

Now I'm not sure just how festive this card is, I usually use lots of red and green for Christmas cards so this is a bit different for me. I used Waltzingmouse Teeny Trees, this is such a versatile set with endless possibilities. I thought these trees had a Christmas tree kind of shape so opted for them, I sponged some distress ink onto the stamp to give it this softer effect then sponged a background using a piece of torn paper as a mask and various shades of green ink. I was really pleased with how this turned out.

I added some Stampendous shabby white embossing enamel which I heated from underneath to give the snowy effect. I should have used a plainer scallop for my edges as I think this is a bit too fussy with the floral oval die. Some button twine from the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop finishes off the card. The sentiment is also from the Teeny Tree set.

A quick reminder that there is a design team call over at the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop blog, if you like using ribbons and pretty embellishments then check out the details HERE.

Monday, 5 November 2012

Hello and welcome to my sadly neglected blog. I'm sorry I haven't been around much but I have been so busy lately, hopefully this month I'll have more time to show some of my cards.

Before I show my card for this month's challenge I wanted to let you know that there is a Design Team call over at the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop blog, so if you like using ribbon and other pretty products go check out the details HERE

A nice easy one for us and the team have made some wonderful cards this month, all Christmas themed, so do pop over and get some inspiration from them.

The prize this month is this little lot of Christmas goodies;

My card features a new stamp I bought to make my Christmas cards with this year by Stampendous called Snowy Postcard. I have to say I love it!

For this card I trimmed the image to fit inside a floral ovals nestie. It fits really well into the largest die, and I used some Vintage Photo Distress ink to highlight some areas of snow scene. It's difficult to see in the photo but I then sprinkled some Stampendous Shabby White Embossing Enamel onto the image and heated it from underneath, this gives a lovely festive effect. It's my new favourite product!! You can see it more clearly in the photo below. Although it's predominantly white it also has gold chunks in it and some gold glitter too. I'm definitely going to ask for some of the other colours in my letter to Santa this year.

Thursday, 11 October 2012

It's a while since I made a clean and simple card, but my Husband asked me to make a card for a friend of his at work whose Wife as just had a baby girl. I have to admit it's a long time since I made a New Baby card so I had to rummage through my craft room to find something suitable.

I decided to go for a clean and simple card after I found some pretty Melissa Frances stickers in a drawer. I thought this Little Princess sticker was perfect, I mounted it onto a couple of layers of card.

I used a strip of pink card from my scraps mountain (which just seems to get bigger and bigger every day!!) and adhered a piece of gorgeous guipure lace from the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop to it with a thin piece of pink grosgrain ribbon. To embellish I used some pink self adhesive pearls on the lace and the crown. This card only took minutes to put together, which makes a change for me as I often take hours to finish one card.

Monday, 1 October 2012

I love this challenge as it has so much scope, but especially as I could make a Halloween project, I love Halloween so much! This year will be a bit different for me as usually all the preparations for trick or treat are shared with my daughter who has now gone off to University. We carve pumpkins together and decorate our front porch with cobwebs and spiders and our pumpkins ready for all the little ones who visit, but this year I will have to do it all alone.

I have made a card and treat pail for the challenge, for the card I have used a selection of paper scraps that I had in my scraps box, the main image is a Melissa Frances sticker (love these stickers!) which I have had in my collection for a long while). the bow is made from black seam bindingwhich I have distressed by rolling a length in my hands for a few seconds, The centre of the bow has on old recycled button I had saved from a pair of gloves tied onto it.

My next project is an altered pail. I intend to fill this with lots of treats and then post it with the card to my Daughter as a little Halloween surprise.

I covered the pail (from Sainsburys) with this polka dot paper (apologies I can't remember where this came from) and then added another Melissa Frances sticker from the same sheet. I then adhered buttons all around the top using a strip of super sticky tape (I swear that stuff would stick anything together!!) and lastly added more of the distressed seam binding and the button from the other glove! there is a little tag tied onto the pail with a sentiment on it but I didn't fit it into the photo properly.

Do pop over to the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop Blog and see all my team mates creations they really are inspirational! And we'd love to see all your autumn cards entered into our challenge too.

The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop have a Sale in the Christmas Shop until 10th October, included are some lovely festive ribbons, charms, twine, pearls and rhinestones. Do pop over and have a look HERE

Monday, 3 September 2012

If you care to join us you could be in with a chance of winning one of the new Bumper Satin Ribbon Packs- 18 metres of 16mm double sided ribbon in 18 different colours (available in the special offers section)

My card is slightly pink overload this month, but it's for a special little one who loves all things pink. I started with the hot pink backing and then found these pretty papers from MME in my collection.

Monday, 13 August 2012

Gosh another card made with a sketch, this is becoming a bit of an addiction.

I made a card using the sketch at the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge which my lovely Teamie Sasha is Guest Designer for at the moment. It's such a lovely sketch and although I don't yet have any Flourishes stamps it's ok still to join in with the challenge!

Here is the fabulous sketch

and here is my interpretation of it;

I started with the oval cut from a nestie and then stamped this rose and leaves from a Waltzingmouse stamp set, adding a few pearls to embellish. Next I chose this pretty paper for the background, it's been sitting in my scraps box for the longest time so I was happy to be able to use it up.I also used a few other scraps for the other details. The sentiment is also from Waltzingmouse stamps.

I have been wanting to use this gorgeous guipure lace from the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop on a card and I thought it went well with this design, isn't it delicate? Lastly I added a triple bow made from white seam binding. I'm quite happy with the result of this one.

Friday, 10 August 2012

Are you still watching the Olympics? only a few days left now and things are going so well for Team GB! Makes you so proud to be British!

I actually managed to make a card this week, I haven't joined in with many challenges for such a long time, but I love the sketch this week at Waltzingmouse Sketches so I thought I would have a go.

I'm starting to think about Christmas already, I do so love making Christmas cards and tags. This card was very quick and easy to make.

I've had this Martha Stewart branch punch for a long long time and never really used it, so I thought it was about time to give it a dusting. I punched out lots and lots of branches and stuck then to a circle which I cut with a nestie to make a wreath. I had already stamped on the sentiment (Waltzingmouse - Compliments of the |Season). The branches look better if adhered to the front and back of the circle, it seems to give a little bit of dimension to the wreath. The berries are red self adhesive flat back pearls from the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop.

I used another Martha Stewart punch for the border and topped this with some red gingham ribbon (my favourite ribbon for Christmas projects). I'll be making a lot more Christmas cards on the next month or so as I like to get them finished as early as possible.

Monday, 6 August 2012

Are you enjoying the Olympics? I've been glued to the TV since the opening ceremony and WOW how fabulous are Team GB?

So it's the first Monday of the month which means it's time for our challenge at thePretty Little Ribbon Shop blog and this month it was my turn to choose and I decided on;

Add some Bling or Sparkle

Come and join in with the fun we have a pretty prize up for grabs

Well we all love a bit of bling on our cards don't we? I did manage to make 2 cards for this challenge between the rowing and diving and swimming LOL!

This isn't quite my usual style but I wanted to try out these toppers from the Hobby House. I think I am the only cardmaker in existence who doesn't own any copics so the great thing about these toppers is that they are already coloured so you are ready to put your card together straight away (which is helpful when you cannot take one eye of the TV for 2 weeks!) I used scraps of paper that were in my Christmas paper box and then added a strip of gorgeous moss green silky crush ribbon topped with organza sheer polka dot ribbon in parrot green.

The poinsettia flowers have been sitting in a jar on my shelf for a long while so I was happy to be able to use one on this card. lastly I added the candy canes charm and my bling in the form of some red rhinestones.

My next card is more my usual style of card and I do love making these cards in a pocket. I have a lot of wedding cards to make this year so this is one of quite a few that are on my 'to do' list.

This card is quite simple I wanted the bow and embellishment to be the main feature. I made the pocket first I stamped the Vintage Wallpaper stamp( this stamp is in the sale) onto cream pearlescent card and then heat embossed it with a translucent embossing powder to give a subtle pattern to the front of my pocket. I then used the sentiment stamp (from Waltzingmouse Stamps) and to finish I cut a semi circle out at the top of the pocket using a nestie.

I then made the insert card using the same design and stamp set, adding a large double bow of silk wrinkle ribbon in Ivory which ties the most beautiful bows and added this gorgeous embellishment to finish with. Here's a close up of the embossing.

Do pop over to the blogand have a look at my team mates fabulous designs, we'd love to see you joining in with the fun!

Friday, 20 July 2012

Well it has finally stopped raining here! I've never known such a wet and rainy summer. While its been raining I've been doing a bit of cardmaking, trying to fill up my card box as it's looking a bit sad and empty.

This little card was made using up some scraps lying around my desk, I stitched them together randomly. Sorry the photo is not very good on this one!

I cut out a Picot edge circle and then sponged the circle with pink ink. The sentiment was then stamped on

Monday, 2 July 2012

We'd like to see you make a tag or include a tag somewhere on your project/card.

And if you join in this month you have a chance to win this pretty collection of ribbons and embellishments;

For me this challenge was simple as I really love making tags, I think they are a great way to use up all of those little scraps that us crafters cant bear to throw away! I always have a lot of paper and ribbon scraps on my desk so I tried to use some of these.

I love how this tag turned out as it has lots of different textures on it, I am having a bit of a fetish for felt at the moment so I used some pink felt to make the rolled roses which are layered onto some green Prima leaves and some hand cut burlap leaves (recycled from an old broken shopping bag). I also layered some white felt underneath the paper matting. Next I sewed on the row of buttons and then finally added a double bow of white seam binding, finished off with a button and a tiny round tag.

My second tag uses up lots of scraps, I thought this would be nice with a new home gift. I made the house out of a couple of chipboard squares which I have had forever! I added a felt heart to this and then finished off with seam bindingand some lace, a tiny tag secured with a button and some natural twine.

My last tag uses some Fancy Pants felt (again I have had this for a long time) which I have layered up to make some pretty flowers. I used my sewing machine to sew the stems and finished this one off with more white seam binding, pink bakers twine and some little white satin leaves.

Please do pop over to the challenge blog to see what the Design Team have created, I promise you wont be disappointed. We'd love to see you join in with our challenge too.All seam binding, lace, buttons and twine from the Pretty Little Ribbon Shop

Tuesday, 19 June 2012

I have a couple of Christmas cards to share today, I know its far too early in the year but they are my very favourite type of cards to make, and I want to try and keep up with the Waltzingmouse Christmas challenge this year. I am a bit behind at the moment but hopefully I will catch up in the next day or so as I have a bit of crafting time planned this week.

February's challenge used a photo to inspire us (I can't copy it for you to see but I chose to use the colours red and green from the photo for my card)

I decided on a simple design so that I could make a few of these at the same time, I also wanted to experiment on making flatter cards to keep postage costs down at Christmas as we have had such a huge increase in our Royal Mail prices here.

The stamps used on this card are Oval classic frames and the sentiment came from Very Vintage Christmas.

I used some old papers for this card, then added some natural twine and embellished with some red3mm pearls. I'm not entirely happy with this card, it's very difficult to make a flat card using the type of products I like to craft with!

My next card is made for May's challenge - incorporate some chipboard on your Christmas card.

I have been crafting for a long time now and chipboard is one of those products that was so popular a few years ago so of course I have tons of it tucked away in my craftroom because I bought a ridiculous amount of it and then never used it!! It was actually fun to find my chipboard box in the craft cupboard and rummage through it to find some festive shapes.

This card came together very quickly, I bought the gorgeous vellum last year, I always stitch it into place as I don't like any adhesives to show through. I then used the 'Let it Snow' sentiment from Compliments of the Season stamp set which was embossed in silver onto a Fancy Tags die cut. Finally I tied a triple bow using white seam bindingand attached that to the corner of the card and adhered my chipboard snowflakes into place.